Golden Wind Academy
by Bearded Zeus
Summary: When a King must send his daughter away for her own safety, he chooses Golden Wind Academy. Now the Princess and her guardian must learn to co-exist and make new friends all while hiding their true identities. A mysterious teacher appears.
1. Prologue: The Plan of a King

The great King of Demuir sat the desk in his chambers; his head lay in his hands. He was becoming overly wrought with pain and frustration with the continuation of this war. His hand fell to his side as he let his body slump further into the desk. He felt the soft tongue of his life-long companion, Buciarrati, his persian. The King was not as old he looked and felt these days. He was only fifty, but his hair was mostly white, and wrinkles frequented his brow on a daily basis. He only stood five-foot-six, so among the upper class, it was known that he wore shoes that would help him gain height. He also wore his crown constantly when appearing in public. Face, of course, is terribly important when you run an entire country.

He was in his current situation due to the war that was being waged in with the neighboring country of Kaball. It had been about five years since the wretched war had begun, and at the moment, it looked like the Demuirans were losing. This war had been tough on the people of his nation. They had very few allies, being such a small country. And the other side seemed to have more money to fund the war. The King was worried about how many lives had already been taken, pokemon and human alike, to protect his beloved country, and how it seemed to be nowhere close to being over.

A knock came at the door. The King quickly composed himself. Never good to look weak in the eyes of anyone while at war. "Enter." The King said, rubbing the green emerald on his right middle finger. His face became set and unshakable. However, this amount of effort was not prepared for the coming news.

A man not much younger than the King entered the room holding a piece of paper. A memorandum from the front lines it seemed. The man was none other than the King's Head of the Royal Guard. His name was Drake Mandes. He was tall and well-built. His loyal Lucario stood next to him, at perfect attention. "I have urgent news concerning your daughter, Majesty." The king's eyes opened wide with fright. "It has been confirmed that your daughter, Miss Talia, was almost assassinated at her school today. Had it not been for a junior guardsman of my Corps, she would have been killed." A sigh of relief escaped the King's lips. He laid his head in his hands again, with Buciarrati jumping to the table to try and comfort him as best he could.

The King openly began shuddering. Drake closed the door. "I know I can be personal with you, Drake. You've been there all my life to protect us. Don't refer to me as King while we're alone, my friend." The king was on the verge of tears. His daughter had been the only one born to him and his wife, and his wife had died during childbirth. She was the only thing that connected him to his long-lost love. The only family he had. The only real heir to his throne. If anything were to happen to his daughter, he knew the war would be over. "Tell me the rest please," the King said, regaining some composure. Drake continued.

"The junior Guardsman was there on leave of duties and was in the area taking vacation, and heard the school being attacked. He quickly intervened and managed to defeat the assailant without killing him. The man who attempted to kill your daughter was interrogated and said that your family is no longer safe in this country, and that they have operatives all over the State." There was a grim pause. Drake leaned over the desk to look the King in the eye. "Gabriel, this is serious. He wasn't lying. Not after what he was put through for this intelligence."

King Gabriel stood up from his chair and began pacing the room. Pointing to a map, he said "You know how much my daughter means to me, Drake. If the enemy is everywhere in the country, we have one option: get Talia out. She'll have to go into hiding."

"Where? And How?" Drake asked.

"Private school. She must have an education if she is to succeed me someday. We'll hide her identity, change her name. Change her appearance; she's always wanted to cut her hair shorter. She goes to school in Johto, or Hoenn, or someplace that a transfer student won't be noticed."

"What if her identity is discovered? She'll be hunted down and have no protection from the enemy."

"I have a solution already in mind. That junior guardsman. What's his name?" the King's mouth twisted slightly with his scheme coming together. He loved the feeling of being clever.

"He is my son. Daniel Mandes. He is very well trained in martial arts and was top of his class at his school. He is also a decent trainer, if I do say so myself." The father boasted his son's ability.

"I see he takes his job as seriously as you take yours, Drake. I'm impressed with the boy. I want them both sent to a private school in another country. Have their schedules and dorms synchronized. I want him to be at her side as often as possible." The King's fingers interlaced and touched his lips ever so slightly. When his daughter was safe, he could focus more attention on winning the war.

"Why not send in a more seasoned soldier to escort her to another land and protect her?"

"Nonsense. That would be much too obvious, Drake. It would be a neon sign to the enemy that she's the princess if a burly man was to be with her always. Let me ask you this question: Do you believe in your son?"

"Yes," Drake said, thinking over the plan the King had just thought up. No major holes. It would definitely put the King's mind at ease. His son was an extraordinary young man, especially when it came to protecting the princess. Daniel seemed to have a real urgency to protect her.

"Then I put my faith into your son, Drake. Now I'd like your wife to organize this for me. She is the Princess' Caretaker. Would she be up to it?"

"Of course, anything for the Royal Family. My Family exists for the needs of yours." Drake's Lucario dashed out of the room. He was to tell Drake's wife about the plan.

"Then it's agreed. We shall send our children into the wind of Fate. I pray that when my child returns, she will see this foul war at an end, and our people all the happier for it."

"With the Great King Gabriel at her helm, our nation of Demuir will flourish once again."The two men sealed the deal with a two glasses of sherry.

The adventure was only at its forefront for their children, however. The wind of Fate had plans for them, indeed.


	2. Chapter 1: Transfer Students

It was a rainy morning on the day the Princess moved into her new school. She and her new guardian sat in the backseat of a taxi. The car winded down a country road at an alarming speed, taking the teenagers to their new residence for the next few months. Talia refused to call this place home. She looked out the window and watched the rain splosh around in the puddles as they sped through them. For September, it was surprisingly cold, or maybe she just wasn't used to the region's weather yet. From Daniel's eyes, she was in despair. He leaned over to her and whispered, "Are you okay, Highness?"

"I don't like this." She looked at him through pained, amber eyes, "I'm here alone and Demuir is under siege, but all I can do is go to school. I want to do something. I want to help!" Daniel's hand flew over her mouth.

"Please, Princess, try to keep quiet. The enemy could be anywhere." His eyes flitted quickly to the driver's countenance. He could see no change. Either he was good at concealing his reaction, or the driver wasn't much paying attention to his occupants. Either was fine with Daniel. He knew he could handle one man. Daniel laid back a bit. Everything he did, every movement, was to shake any theories about her identity. The feigned relaxing was just in case the driver was a spy, so he would think Daniel was just bad at his job.

His mother had done her part very well in changing the Princess' appearance too. The long hair had been cut to just off her shoulders. Instead of its normal wavy locks, it had been changed to straight with just a bit of bounce at the ends. It framed her heart-shaped face nicely. Nothing from her previous wardrobe was allowed on this journey, and she was forbidden to wear the color burgundy. Her father believed it was too royal a color for a normal person to wear and the enemy might uncover her identity after seeing her in that hue. Daniel had thought this was a bit over the top, especially after making the mistake of sending both students into the school on the same day. But he wasn't about to lecture the king on anything. It wasn't his place. The princess did look stunning as always, though. She was "well-equipped" as they say, and being a princess, he had every reason to want what he could never have. Her hourglass figure gave him a twinge of pleasure that he quickly shook off.

Daniel had done a bit of revamping his style also, but his own look didn't require the same amount of change as hers. She was, of course, a rather well-known princess, and he was, after all, just a junior guardsman. He had only changed his hairstyle a bit and brought with him a small notebook on things he could do to distinguish himself different from the boy he was in Demuir. Both teens were wearing their respective gender's uniform for the academy. Daniel wearing a dark blue blazer with the Crest of the school over his left chest, the same color slacks and a tie that was striped dark blue and gray. Talia was wearing the girls' uniform: a short dark blue skirt, knee-length socks, and a fitted jacket with the same motif on the chest as Daniel's. Instead of a tie, Talia had a red bow around her neck. Daniel took it in. She made a cute schoolgirl, but that would mean he might have to get protective of her.

"Ummm…. Daniel?" Talia said, wondering exactly where his attention had wandered off to. His eyes blinked quickly and came back to focus on her. What kind of a man was this that her father had sent with her? He couldn't go five minutes without becoming transfixed on her randomly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. Lost in my thoughts." _Wonderful_, she thought. "You're not alone, by the way." He was trying to make her a bit more comfortable with the current situation.

"Yeah, I've got a daydreaming baby royal guard here to be my shadow every minute of every day." Talia curtly smiled to herself. Pushing buttons was one of her favorite pastimes back at the palace. It was one of the things she could get away with any day.

"You misunderstand. I mean these guys." His hand hovered dangerously close to a part of her body she wasn't comfortable with someone touching. She then realized that he was just reaching for the pokeballs on her belt. He touched the first one, and in a flash of red light, her favorite Jolteon appeared. Her eyes lit up with joy as she cuddled her beloved 'Jolty'. Daniel was dumbfounded how anyone could be so bad at naming and also that anyone would cuddle such a prickly pokemon.

The taxi slowed to a stop, and the driver got out of the vehicle. Both the demuirans looked out of Talia's window. Outside was the gate to Golden Wind Academy for the Gifted Youth. A porter appeared out of the rain to help with their luggage. Daniel courteously opened Talia's door and held an umbrella over her head. It wasn't a very heavy rain, or thundering for that matter. It was just a downpour that had been going on for a while.

Though he held the umbrella and opened the door, he didn't give the traditional hand to help the princess out of the car. When she looked for it, he just looked in the direction of the school. Talia was disappointed in this young man, had he not manners? For a second their eyes met, but Daniel still didn't offer a hand. He had a strangely smug look that differed from his normal soft eyes. She finally just clambered out of the car by herself, and grimaced deeply at him.

The porter and cab driver began hauling their luggage up to the school. Daniel held the umbrella over Talia's head, but seemed to lag behind the porter and driver. After a minute or two, he spoke to Talia in a voice that only she could hear, for the rain kept his voice from reaching the ears of the driver or the porter. "Sorry, My Lady. You have to understand. I can't be your butler in this scenario. It's too obvious if I do everything I'm trained to do in the presence of royalty."

After a few minutes of walking through the soggy pathway that led up to the school, the demuiran duo witnessed a grand sight: Golden Wind Academy's Main building. Talia had been a fan of fine art when growing up, but she was left in awe at the beauty of this building. Even in the cold, gray rain it was quite a sight to behold. Daniel eyed the specific pieces of architectural craftsmanship. _Very nice, indeed_. Daniel thought. He reminisced about the molding and construction techniques that he had become familiar with as a curious middle-schooler. None of the particular names came to mind when he tried to recall them.

After the initial shock of how well-designed the main building was, both the princess and her guardian became rather underwhelmed. They were both familiar with the Royal Palace in the Capitol of Demuir. It was very nice, and both had played the part of the starry-eyed newcomer to the Academy rather well. Daniel smirked to himself. It was a habit he intended to put into his notebook and practice not doing so often.

With the porter and driver ahead of them, Daniel saw fit to release his pokemon. Just before entering the building, Daniel opened a pokeball. His Haunter, Jones, appeared before him in a small flash of red light. "Jones, I need you to follow us. Do you best not to be seen." And with that command, Jones vanished into thin air. He was still there of course, but being a ghost allowed him to pass partway into an alternate dimension between that of the living and that of the dead. This ability was useful so that he could keep an eye on their backs. Just in case someone was following them with a plan to trap them.

The party finally reached the large, ornate, oak doors. Talia felt slightly more at home than she did in the car. This place was grand and well-decorated. She could get used to this perhaps. The door opened and the transfer students were greeted by a wonderfully plump woman with mousy graying hair tied into a tight bun and wearing reading spectacles. "Well, you must be our new transfer students! My name is Rebecca Ravenwood, and I'm simply ecstatic to meet you. I'm going to be your new Student Advisor," the lady chimed in such a happy mood it almost made Daniel sick, but Talia found it nice to have someone with high spirits around. "Now, students, we don't have much time to waste with your introductions, you might catch the last ten minutes of your pokemon biology class. Frank, if you could get one of the other porters down here to carry the children's luggage up to their dormitories."

She turned and began walking at a quick pace off down one of the corridors. Daniel and Talia began to follow, but the advisor stopped, turned around with a look of disgust on her face as she faced Jolty, who had gotten his feet dirty in the mud on the walk from the cab. "I demand you recall that dirty creature and keep it in its ball until you can give it a proper bath." Mrs. Ravenwood turned away muttering something under her breath. Talia decided this was a bit too much like home.

Moments later, the three of them stood outside what seemed to be a standard classroom. Ravenwood looked at the duo and began to whisper to them. "I know everything about you two. The King sent me a letter explaining the situation. I've had background checks run on all the teachers and students and none of them should be any kind of threat. I'm really happy that you have decided to join us at our academy. I wish you two the best of luck." Daniel was having a hard time believing her, but didn't really have much of a choice. Her countenance had shifted very rapidly several times over the last few minutes, and now he was expected to place all his trust in her? _Nonsense_. Daniel took a mental note of her.

Ravenwood rapped her knuckles on the wood of the door and quickly entered the classroom, leading the students into it. "Good day, students! Today, we have very special guests. I present to you, our new transfer students!"

Daniel stepped up in front of the class first. "Good day to you. My name is Joseph Carde. I'm 18 years old and I hope to be a detective when I'm older. You can call me Jojo."

Talia stepped up next to Joseph and spoke clearly, "My name is Keira Shepherd, I'm about to be 18, and I hope to be a pokemon breeder one day. It's wonderful to meet all of you. I hope we can be friends." Keira smiled at the rows of desks with young adults seated in them. Daniel was pleased with Talia's acting skills. Maybe this plan was better than he thought.

The new students quickly took their seats in the classroom. Jojo heard the muffled whispers gathering around them. He pretended not to hear them, but Daniel was listening intently on what the students thought of Keira. He couldn't hear anything that sounded too dangerous. A smirk almost crossed his face, but he cancelled it. What does Jojo have to smirk about on his first day of school? Nothing. But Daniel had a few things to smirk about.

Right, so there wasn't a whole lot of anything happening in this chapter. I wanted to introduce my main characters, and give the reader a bit of insight into who these people are. No one likes an underdeveloped character, do they? The next chapter will have more stuff in it, I promise, including some of the OCs I've received. It really does pick up from here. Until next time, everybody. Take care.


	3. Chapter 2

Jojo and Keira had been placed in the back of the classroom with adjacent desks. To Daniel, it might as well be the perfect place for scoping out any spies. To Talia, it meant she could speak to maybe one person this period because her faithful protector would likely be busy "scoping things out". _This is going to be a long year_, she thought. _Especially if he stays this paranoid_. The professor, a white-haired older gentleman by the name of Boroughston had started with "Quagsire, being a water and ground type has a large weakness to grass types…" and that was all Daniel really heard (he had always had a strong grasp on pokemon biology, especially that of his own pokemon), so he let his mind wander around the room. The boy on Talia's left leaned over to her.

"Hi, my name's Jay Simone."

"It's very nice to meet you."

"So where did you come from?" he inquired.

"Goldenrod City. My parents own and operate a restaurant there, but they just moved to Saffron to start a new café there."

"Oh. Coolness. So how did they pay for this school?"

"They work like dogs, they do. All because they want me to have a better life than them. I do love them for that." Keira smiled warmly. She did love her father so very much.

"That's cool. By the way, this teacher isn't terribly interesting. If you're not trying to pay attention, you won't. Not too many students like him."

"I think he's alright, granted I've been in his class 5 minutes and spent the whole time talking to you. I like the way he looks. So pudgy and jolly." Keira lifted her hand to her mouth and enjoyed the jolly old man's appearance.

"Well that's a refreshing point of view you've got there." Jay smiled an innocent, toothy smile.

Jojo sat in a casual way: hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair. He would normally put his feet on the desk, but that risked getting detention and that was a horrible way to start this new persona. Daniel's eyes did all the moving, while the rest of his body would remain still. This was the plan Daniel would use to scope out the students in each class. This would give him quite the headache, but that's why Man invented aspirin. He could deal with a headache if it was for the princess.

At his 1 o'clock, he saw a girl with waist-length brown hair and a white scarf supplementing her uniform whispering to a blond-headed guy with a blue scarf. They were looking back at Jojo and Keira. Daniel figured they were from Sinnoh, with the current fashion in that region involving scarves. He watched their body language. They were comfortable with each other, but still had a certain distance between them. When Jojo had told the class he wanted to be a detective, he wasn't exactly lying, mind you. He'd had some practice in the royal guards' academy back home.

A thin boy of African descent was seated on the other side of Keira, but something was different about him. Instead of whispering about the new students, he was talking to one. He spoke to Keira in excited whispers. He had a friendly face. Childish, but with a beard. Definitely not your normal character. His hair had been straightened out to approach his eyes and neck. Daniel saw a bright red vest beneath the school's blazer. He seemed extremely harmless, but that meant he could be a really good actor. _This is gonna be a long year_, Danny thought to himself, _especially if I have to investigate anything_. He decided that he was being a bit too paranoid for the first day.

Daniel's ears kept hearing the same voice since they had walked in. his eyes darted around to figure out who it belonged to. His ear led him to a blond girl who had plaited her hair. It was a different look that made Daniel slightly uncomfortable. _European_, _perhaps_, _or just a hairdo._ It was unusual, but why would an assassin try to stand out in any way? Much less talk to someone as much as she was. But then Daniel found that the person to whom she was talking had not really said anything in their entire whispered conversation. He saw the silent younger girl and she stuck out to him. He wasn't exactly sure why she wasn't speaking to anyone. He looked at her eyes. Her brown orbs had slight bags beneath them that Daniel figured were from lack of sleep, but nonetheless, her eyes seemed quite happy being in class. The girl rotated her head back to the front of the class and she continued taking notes. He remembered the school had a light's out policy at ten p.m. What was she staying up to do? It wouldn't be very hard to assume they could be a threat to the safety of the princess. Jojo's mouth twisted in boredom, while Daniel's twisted in frustration.

Daniel decided it was time to pay attention to the people who weren't talking. Unless the enemy had sent two assassins, the agent wouldn't be speaking to anyone. One boy stuck out as he had not said a thing when Daniel and Talia had walked in. He had not bothered to glance at either of them really. This counted as suspicious behavior to Daniel. His blonde hair was just barely long enough to be considered messy. His light blue eyes didn't seem to be involved with anything other than learning. A diligent student could be a strong cover for an enemy spy. Or possibly Daniel was just being paranoid. Still, it would be good to get his name after class and run a small check.

At 11 o'clock, Daniel noticed a teenage boy with a deck of cards flying between his hands. He kept the cards behind the back of the student in front of him, so as not to gain attention and reprimand from the instructor. Daniel took note of how quiet the shuffling of cards was. Experienced hands. His eyes were half-closed made it look like he was in a bit of a trance, but his face wasn't moving in the slightest. His brown hair had an oddly windswept appearance even though it was quite still outside. Another point that Daniel took a mental note of was the boy's lack of any visible notebooks or papers. He wasn't taking notes. _Suspicious_.

The bells' ring caught Daniel off guard, as he was in deep thought, so much so that he almost feel out of his chair. His eyes flung open. _Time to mingle_. Talia walked with the kid she was talking to over to a few of the girls. Danel walked up to the young man with messy blond hair that hadn't even looked at Jojo or Keira. Daniel stuck out his hand and said, "The name's Carde, Jospeh Carde. You can call me Jojo." Daniel mustered up a friendly smile.

"Yeah, I heard. What is it, you want?" he said, not jerkishly, but with hardly a friendly tone in his voice.

"Well, I was thinking we might be friends, what's your name?" Jojo still acted perfectly friendly, but Daniel was having a slight problem with this guy's attitude.

"I'm not exactly here to make friends," he said, seemingly annoyed, "But my name is Otis Ackermann."

That name… where have I heard that before? Daniel's brain clicked. Jojo's mouth moved to speak, but Otis spoke first. "Yeah, as in the Ackermann Technical Machine Company. My father is the founder." And at that, he began to turn away.

"I hear you're a damn good soccer player," Daniel opened up his Ackermann file in his mind. Jojo smirked.

"Yeah, I'm the best defender in this school." Otis' countenance had shifted and suddenly was friendlier.

"My pokemon and I make a pretty menacing team. We should play a game sometime to see whose better."

"You've got yourself a game, Jojo." Otis scribbled a few numbers onto a piece of notebook paper. "Here's my number. Call me when you want to play, or if you want to chill sometime." And with that, Jojo turned back to his desk for his academy-required briefcase.

Keira had had a nice conversation with Jay. He was one of the friendliest people she had ever met. After the bell rang, he walked her over to a group of girls for more personal introductions. They had formed a bit of a circle or a bubble. The girl with the beautiful long brown hair was named Alessandra Cesarini. The name felt like butter in her mind for some reason. The main speaker of the group however was a younger girl by the name of Cariba Summers. She hadn't really stopped talking about how they would be best friends. Talia, as well as the other girls restrained themselves from interrupting her. "Ok, so just remember, Boroughston isn't what you'd call a hands-on kind of teacher, so if you can make time to read the book, you should be ok." At this, the girl introduced as Jaden spoke up.

"Should you really be giving her advice when you're not doing so hot in this class?"

"Oh, I see sleeping beauty is finally up." Cari was feigning attitude with her friend.

"So do you know Joseph, Keira?" Alex asked.

"Well…" Talia couldn't think up what to say. She didn't remember what her manual had said about her relation to Jojo. Keira started blushing and stuttering, which in girl-speak meant she had some kind of feelings for him.

"Oh I see…" Cari smirked a dark grin.

"No! it's not like-"

"You guys talking about me?" Jojo had stuck his head into the girls' bubble. If this had happened thirty seconds earlier, he would've been her hero, but again, he failed in that respect. "Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if any of you fine young women could show me to my next class." He fired a hot smile to each girl in turn, with the exception of Keira. "And maybe you could show me to my dorm later on," he said, firing another slightly lustful smile sneak out of his mouth.

Before any of the young women could respond, the boy with the scarf interjected into the bubble. "Actually, I was hoping Alex would help me study after school today." He leaned into the circle rather defensively, as if a male nidoking marking his territory almost.

"Your boyfriend?" Jojo asked, innocently enough.

"No!" both of them responded simultaneously. Everyone else in the circle noticed this and their similarly tightened muscles, but before anyone could say anything, Jay spoke, "I'll show you to your next class, bud."

"Thanks." Jay began walking away with Jojo in tow, but the rest of the circle kept an intent look on the scarf wearers. Cari and Jaden had rather smug looks on while staring at the couple that was definitely not a couple. When it seemed as though the boy's head would explode, Keira intervened.

"Just friends then. Well, would you guys like to tell me where my next class is?" A sweet smile spread across her face.

"Right, yeah, no problem," Cari said, as she made her way to the door. The rest of the small group began walking with them too. When Alex's blush decreased, she introduced the boy who was definitely not her boyfriend.

"This is Markus. We sort of grew up together."

"That's cool." Keira liked these people. She had never really made too many friends. At her old school, and even before, she had only spoken to her bodyguards and people who looked like they wanted to be friends, but ended up being people trying to get money from her. The only ones she considered friends were her pokemon, but now she was making real human friends. She thought about Daniel for a second. He was letting her make friends, unlike those other bodyguards. Or maybe he was just really bad at his job. Talia decided it was the latter. He wasn't a very effective protector. _Incompetent fool_.

"You know, you never did tell us the story behind you and Jojo." Jaden said, bumping Keira's arm.

"Pen pals. We met over the internet about a year ago and by coincidence, we ended up at the same school. Crazy, huh?" Talia smiled remembering what was forgotten minutes before.

During the passing period, Daniel had entered the bathroom outside his next class and was sitting in a stall. He whispered below a whisper, "Jones." And his haunter appeared in front of him. "Is Talia alright?" he asked, again in that below whisper voice. The ghost responded affirmatively. "Is there anything suspicious about the buildings?" Jones shook his head. "Go have a look around campus while we're in class. Try to stay around Talia when I'm not and warn me if there's anything I should know about." There was no way, he would let the princess out of his sight, but she didn't have to know that.

Daniel had continued to look closely at everyone in every class, but most of them were repeats that day. He would have to wait for Friday's classes for any major changes to the people in the class. That's how this school operated. Students would have many of the same students in their classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and a different set on Tuesday and Thursday. After hours of class, the instructional day had ended, and Daniel was ready for it. He really didn't see how this school expected him to sit in a chair all day and actually learn something.

Daniel was really hoping no one would notice that the two new students had identical schedules. He sighed when he thought of the King. Jay had been his chauffeur all day long, and they had exchanged information. Currently, they were both heading to Jojo's dorm room.

"So this is weird."

"What is?" Jojo asked, as he pulled himself out of his subconscious.

"Well, it says on this note that your dorm room is in an all female dorm."

"Huh? Really?" Jojo said, rather shocked.

"Yeah, but not exactly in the building though." Daniel reached into his mind and pulled up the memorized blueprints of the building. His room was a small room on the top floor.

"What?" When the duo reached the "top floor" Jojo and Daniel both understood. Apparently, the blueprint had been strayed from during its actual construction. His room, if he could call it that, was an abandoned custodian's closet on the roof of the girls' dorm. Jojo's mouth hung open for a full five minutes as a small gathering pooled around him and Jay. Daniel's face twitched awkwardly as Keira finally exited onto the roof. _Sucks for him,_ she thought.

With his head hung low, he slowly walked to the shack and began loading his things into it. Thank Goodness he had only brought two duffel bags worth of belongings. Anymore, and he wouldn't be able to breathe in his new place of residence.

After a quick dinner with her new friends, Talia _really_ wanted to give Jolty a bath, but when she entered her room, though, she found someone already there. She was about to raise an alarm when the figure stepped out of the shadow of her curtains. It was just Daniel. "You know, you're really bad at this guardian thing," she stated, plopping down on her bed. "I wandered half the day when you weren't in sight anywhere."

"Wow. You really think I'm that terrible?"

"Yup yup."

After a small chuckle, Daniel sat on the floor of her room in front of her and removed her left shoe. "You don't have to see me in order for me to know where you are. A good guardian is always at your side, a better one is never seen at your side."

"What are you babbling about, Shortsword?"

"If no one sees me close to you, then no one will make the connection that I'm supposed to be protecting you." He removed her other shoe.

"But then when I'm in real danger, who's supposed to protect me?"

"Me." He removed her left sock. "Jones." Daniel's haunter happily appeared in front of her face almost scaring her.

"What's the deal?" Instead of explaining, he returned his ghost to his pokeball and removed her right sock saying, "You've got Princess Syndrome, you know that?"

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. I'll tell you some other time. In the meantime, why don't you relax a bit?" He began rubbing her left foot.

"What are you doing, Shortsword?" she said, trying not to be too relaxed.

"What does it look like?" he said, sarcastically. She was feeling rather frustrated, but the foot rub was still really nice. "I know you're not used to walking so much in one day. You'll adjust soon, but until then, I'll be in here to help you, Princess."

"Your hands are rough."

"Sorry, I gave your jolteon a bath while you were eating….. that wasn't fun, by the way."

"You're such a fool."

"Your dad thinks otherwise."

"He doesn't know you."

"And you do?" his hands moved on to her other foot now.

"Touché, Shortsword." A small smile had crept onto her face. At least she wouldn't be bored with this guardian. There was a silence between them as he finished rubbing her feet. She couldn't tell if it was an awkward or comfortable silence though. It was just silence as her guardian helped her relax. Finally, she spoke.

"Next time, just leaving the washing of overprotective, spiky, electric pokemon to me."

"As you wish, Princess." Abruptly he stood up and walked to the window. "I should go. It'll be hard explaining this to someone if they walked in. Here, take this." He handed her a gold bracelet with "Keira" inscribed on it. It wasn't the most luxurious thing she'd ever worn, not by far, but it had a certain elegance in its simplicity.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"If you look closely here, you'll see a tab that barely sticks out." Talia could barely see it, but it was there; right above the middle of her name. "All you have to do is push it in, and I'll come running."

"What about your creepy haunter?"

"Even pokemon need sleep, princess. It'll keep you safe at night, and it means you don't have to worry about me always being on your tail."

"Thanks, I guess."

"You royalty really don't know how to thank someone," he said jokingly. Talia watched him open her window and begin climbing up towards the roof.

That night, Daniel had managed to hook up his computer in the tiny cramped room they had given him. He opened up his private internet browser and began writing his report to his father. 'Nothing too suspicious yet. She doesn't seem to like me, though that won't stop me from being close. Either way, I hope this war is over with quickly. Long live the King.' And with that, he ended the message and sent the email over what he assumed was a secure line. While the students all busied themselves with homework, Daniel was staring at his own studies of who was who in the school. Putting names with faces. After a few hours, he rubbed his temples and went to sleep on the tiny cot that he had set up. He rested assured that the school was safe enough. Only problem was, it wasn't as safe as he thought. Another party had received the email as well.

Howdy, readers. Sorry for taking a while on that one. I don't exactly have a schedule for uploading chapters. I kind of just write and roll with it. Hopefully this chapter isn't too long. If it is, just tell me, and I'll make sure not to let myself get this carried away with it. Also, I did put a line before my Author's Note at the end of my last chapter, but it got lost in cyberspace somewhere apparently. Sorry about that. This won't be all the OCs I'm putting in, I'm just trying to make it gradual. Putting several buttloads of characters in one chapter is poor taste in my opinion. I'm still taking OCs I guess, but I think I'll stop soon. Anyway, drop me a comment on what you think and what I can do better. Until next time, everybody. Peace.


	4. Chapter 3: Reyes

Daniel woke up promptly at five-thirty. Of course, he didn't sleep too well, which was half the reason why he was up so early. The other half being that he couldn't help but deal with the idea of the princess being unprotected for so long. He'd liked his job as a junior guardsman. It was simple enough and had enough money in it for him. It was a life-long career that had room for advancement. He really couldn't complain much, (training had prevented this) and he already had a nice promotion plan with his father being at the top of the ladder. And this new assignment meant he had a huge promotion waiting for him when the school year was over. Daniel took solace in this as he got up and opened the door.

He took in the view as the sun began rising. The rain had subsided completely, and from his unique vantage point, he could see clear into the courtyard and across the campus. It was most definitely a sight to behold. The main building had been technically called the "Academic Building" and he remembered the construction had been rather wonderful, but not of the same caliber as the palace in his capitol city. Now as he stood at the top of his roof, he doubted whether the entire campus was of that caliber as a whole.

There were many green courtyards that spotted the campus. Statues and memorials to famous alumni and founders were scattered around as well. He saw a magnificently grand fountain outside his dorm. How he had missed it before was a mystery to him. The buildings all had ornate architecture that made him take a mental step back as he tried to name them all. So many different styles of molding, all the shapes, and somehow the school had managed to make the entire campus fit all together as if all the different names he couldn't remember were meant to be together. Talia had to see this.

Daniel ran back into his room and search through his supplies bag for a rope he could use to repel down to Keira's room so she could witness what he had. Finally, he found it and ran to the gargoyle that hung over the edge. It wasn't exactly a perfect line to her window, but Daniel could manage well enough. He quickly tied off the rope on the gargoyle's neck. Unknowingly, he had missed a loop he needed in his lashing of the gargoyle and was about to hop off the building to a very unfortunate landing. What saved him from this occurrence was the sight of another human being on the campus below. Daniel ducked down behind the statue and observed who it was that was up as early as he was. Suspicion killed the morphine-esque high he had reached.

Daniel's trained eyes narrowed on this new individual. The young man was a student it seemed. A well-built individual. He couldn't make out the face from this distance, so naturally Daniel thought him a suspect. He began to release his pokemon allies. Empoleon, Marmortar, Gengar… all were considered very powerful allies. Not good. Daniel reached into his wrist band and found one pokeball. Haru, his heracross, was going to be his only weapon if this became a battle. His first priority was to get to Talia. He clenched his hand around the rope. He'd have maybe thirty seconds to reach her, his whole nody became tense. Unexpectedly, the young man below him sat on the ground and began stretching. _Wait a minute, he's what? Training? Well I guess that's not as suspicious_. After a few minutes of watching the student begin his exercises, Daniel decided it was harmless enough. _Probably not the best idea to attack a person without an explainable reason_. It was barely day two, and Daniel was already sure someone was an enemy.

Talia was awoken and almost had a heart attack when she didn't recognize her ceiling. She clutched Jolty tightly as she had been sleeping in her bed. After cursing her foolishness she got up and looked out her window, expecting some kind of stalking spectre, or possibly just Jones. When she didn't see anything, she decided to have a better look at the bracelet he had given her. It was actually rather nice. She'd had much more than her fair share of jewelry, but the simplicity in this piece made her smile. Maybe all the years of being lavishly spoiled left her with a bitter taste for the more gawdy jewelry she had back home.

Within the hour, classes had begun, starting with Physics. While Jojo studied people in the room, Talia was observing the teacher. It was a rather youthful man who was known as Mr. Reyes. He was a younger adult who didn't bother wearing the same formal attire as the other teachers. When Jojo and Keira walked into the room, he was sitting at his desk with his feet resting on it. He wore a dress shirt, but had it untucked and rolled up the sleeves. Instead of the standard trousers, he wore regular jeans. He wore completely opaque sunglasses until the bell rang. He wasn't a small man, mind you. He reached past six feet and was actually very well-muscled from the sight of his bare forearms. Talia noticed a tattoo that barely peeked out from beneath the sleeve.

"Howdy, students. Today we'll be talking about Torque," he said as he wrote the word on the chalkboard. "Anybody wanna take a stab at its definition?"

Keira's hand flew up at this. Jojo's face had a look of surprise. He was rather terrible at Physics, and hadn't really figured the princess for the brainy type. Maybe he should spend some time in this class learning instead of spying on people who probably weren't evil. The professor pointed to Keira and she said, "Torque is the external force applied to an object in a circular motion and is measured in newton-meters."

"Well, look at the brains on the school's newest cutie." This caused Keira to blush outrageously while Daniel hoped no one saw his hands clenching. "Anyway, that's quite accurate, but don't let the units of measure scare you. It's actually not that hard to calculate when you know enough of the numbers." He began drawing a free-body diagram on his chalkboard and started rambling on how if you know the force vectors and the distance from the center of mass, it was like pie. Upon saying this, he drew a pie from the top drawer of his desk. One can imagine the scene that followed. Up until now, Daniel had been nodding in agreement though Daniel only just grasped the concept, but at the pie comment, Jojo had essentially fallen out of his chair.

The rest of the class went similarly, Reyes would teach something about torque, and Jojo would struggle along until the teacher did something completely off subject, thus derailing Daniel's train of thought. Talia was having quite a time watching her foolish protector attempt to keep up with the shenanigans of her new favorite teacher. By the end of class Daniel and Jojo were a mess. Fortunately, the bell rang and Jojo seemed ready to make a dash for the door, but Reyes wanted to speak with him and Keira.

Mr. Reyes pulled the two new students to his desk, where he sat casually. If he hadn't been so informal during the whole class, he would've seemed almost intimidating. The man waited until all the other students were out of the class before speaking.

"You guys are new here, and so am I. So I think I'd like to help you guys if you need help on homework or something. I'm not just a Physics professor. I'm good at enough of everything to where I can help you guys. This school can be pretty tough if you're not used to this standard of education, but that's why I'm here. I'd like of you to think of me as the guy who knows the answers. And that doesn't just apply to schoolwork mind you." He gave a small smile and though he sounded a little awkward, Talia could tell this man was being sincere. It was the first adult who had ever tried to be her friend. She was definitely feeling just a bit more comfortable in her new school.

As Mr. Reyes finished his impromptu pep talk, running footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway. Mrs. Ravenwood suddenly burst through the door and was visibly shaken. Daniel's muscles tensed and a hand flew to his pocket for Khaos, his tyranitar. "Mr. Reyes! Hurry! The Vice-principal is in trouble!" She then began hurrying off looking even more shaken. The teacher didn't hesitate, and bounded off down the hallway. Jojo and Keira could be seen in his wake.

A crowd had gathered, and an alakazam and a hitmonlee could be seen over the crowd of heads. Reyes began pushing his way towards the front of the crowd. Over the noise, Daniel could hear a man berating someone. It turned out to be the vice-principal yelling at three young men who must've seen better days. Another pokemon had been added to the group as well. A raichu was sparking electricity but was out of view when Daniel first arrived. Mr. Reyes arrived at the front of the crowd, and Jojo was next to him. From his studies, Daniel recalled that the name of the vice-principal was Mr. Komura.

"So what's going on?" he asked, being way too nonchalant in front of the vice-principle.

"These individuals are assaulting me and trying to destroy the school!" His forehead was severely furrowed. He was a short man with glasses and was far into the balding process. Daniel got a vibe that told him this man was altogether a small man. Talia hoped she'd never have to be in the same room with a man like him.

"Kids…. Why?" he asked, again too nonchalantly.

"We're tired of this school. You all made us look like idiots. You treated us like trash. We're here to take back our honor!" the boy who seemed to be in charge was saying.

"You little punks deserved to be kicked out! Garbage like you should just go away and die!" Mr. Komura said, antagonizing them. "This school was made for those willing to work to achieve. Now leave before I call the police on you!"

"Tch! The police won't get here by the time we're done with you old man!" The boy seemed eager to teach the man a lesson.

"Fine! Prepare to meet you're end at the hands of our newest teacher, Heiru Reyes!"

"Whoa whoa whoa. I didn't sign up for this. Why do I have to do it?" The teacher looked indignant.

"Because I, the vice-principal, command you to!"

"Well, that doesn't sound too motivating. We'll be having a conversation about this later, mind you, Mr. Komura."

"Get them!" Komura was becoming even more stressed. Daniel saw a vein that was pumping too much blood and thought Komura's head would explode. A small smirk graced his lips at this thought.

"Alright alright." Reyes pulled grabbed into his pockets and selected a pokeball. He rolled his sleeves up and enlarged the ball. A young man stepped up next to him. And then another one walked up. Jojo reached for a ball, but Keira grabbed his arm. She looked scared. He didn't know this had affected her so much. This could be a trap, actually under the guise that they were here for some kind of "honor" but really trying to get to Talia. Jojo ushered Keira behind for her protection. This gesture wasn't completely lost in the crowd.

Daniel noticed who it was that had moved next to Mr. Reyes. It was the boy with the scarf from the day before, and the young man who was working out way too early in the morning. Daniel mentally flipped through the files on his computer now that he could see the young man's face. Spina, Corey Spina.

As the three defenders posed to send out for a pokemon battle that would most definitely cause collateral damage, Mr. Reyes put his pokeball away. The two students next to him looked a bit dumbfounded as he did so.

"Well, I say a pokemon battle would cause too much damage. And I don't like the idea of letting students get injured in the process. Besides, I don't think the lesson these boys have to learn is going to be learned from battling pokemon. It's something they have to experience firsthand." Mr. Reyes pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a three digit number. "Hello, 9-1-1?...Yes, I'm Heiru Reyes and I'm currently located at Golden Wind Academy and I'd like to request a few ambulances…. Right, I'm going to need three of them, one moment." He put a hand to his phone and asked the leader of the gang, "Are there anymore of you guys out here, or is it just you three?" Understandably, the leader began cursing at him. "No, I think we'll just need three." Reyes hung up his phone.

In an insane burst of speed he was behind them. He grabbed the young man to the leader's left and proceeded to perform a perfect suplex on him. Without missing a beat, he moved to the other member and delivered a jaw-cracking uppercut. Mr. Reyes kicked in the back of the leader's knee and flawlessly spun into a kick that landed on the boy's ribs, and launched him into his comrade. Reyes moved quickly back to the boy he had uppercutted. A quick flurry of punches and the boy was done. The boy's hitmonlee got a kick on the teacher which sent him flying back into the crowd.

Reyes stood again, but the kick had done some damage. Daniel felt the urge to release one of his pokemon to help, but was more importantly moving Keira away from the mess. The pokemon attacked again, but Reyes pulled out a red and white ball that he had grabbed during his flurry of punches. After the ball took him, Markus ran over to the leader and returned the alakazam to its ball and Corey was doing similarly with the raichu. The leader, who was barely conscious now, grasped Markus' hand when he tried to get up. The flash of a steel knife extended towards him, before he could react, the teacher raced up to him and stomped down on the boy's wrist.

"Well, I think that settles almost everything." Reyes stated in a clear voice. He slumped down some in order to catch his breath, but seemed altogether rather devoid of serious injury. Mr. Komura seemed pleased with himself having the situation under control. "One more thing." The foot of Mr. Reyes slammed into the wall inches from Mr. Komura's face. His leg was buried ankle-deep in the wall and at Mr. Komura's height. He paused menacingly with dark eyes looking at the vice-principal, whose face was a picture of terror.

"This whole thing was your fault, Komura. You failed these students. As an educator, you're supposed to nurture and help these kids become respectable adults, but all you do is berate them and call them things like trash or garbage. No one is trash. No one except those that take a job to help people and fill those they're suppose to help full of hate. Komura, you better learn to treat people better, or you'll be getting worse than these kids." The crowd was now half-afraid and half-enamored with the young teacher. "Class dismissed." Mr. Reyes pulled his foot from the wall and slowly walked off to his classroom.

Daniel's mind flashed suddenly as he remembered that there was no data on Mr. Reyes' background that he could find in the school's database. _HE was the assassin_. He gripped Keira's hand and bolted down the hallway to an exit. She began to get tired trying to keep up with him and began slowing down.

"What's going on, Jojo?"

"Now's not the time for that. We need to get back to the dorm."

"But why?"

"Reyes is an assassin!" he whispered to her as he pulled her onto his back. Carrying her would get them to his room faster he hoped. He held Khaos' ball in his hand, ready to fight if needed. She gripped onto him for dear life as he ran for an exit. "Jones." The ghost pokemon appeared. "Anyone following us?" Jones nodded. "Is it the young teacher dressed informally?" There was another nod from Jones. Daniel dropped the princess from his back and pinned her onto a classroom door, _Time to go stealth_. The classrooms in the hallway were set into the wall so that traffic from the hallway could easily go about without people running into the open doors. He hid Talia by getting as close to her as he dared. "It'll be ok. Just stay quiet. You can yell at me later for this."

Daniel heard footsteps. He hoped Reyes would just run by and not look down the hallway. He held his breath and noticed Talia was also not breathing. The footsteps came closer. He wanted to toss out Haru just in case and maybe Khaos, but now it was too late if he still wanted to avoid the fight altogether. No good, he would look back and see them. And then he'd attack while Daniel's back was out and kill him and then take the princess. At this thought he instinctively reached for another pokeball, but Talia grabbed his hand. "It'll be ok," she whispered into his ear. Normally he would have enjoy this action incredibly, but right now he had a job to do. The footsteps reached the hallway and stopped. Daniel spun around and called, "Jones!"

"Well, look what we have here." Reyes smiled as he spoke and stepped down the hallway, hands in his pockets. "I've been looking for you." The Haunter came between them. Reyes' muscles visibly tightened. "We need to talk. Though I didn't expect this." He gestured towards the two of them. Daniel hoped he would have better luck than the boys in the hallway.

**And that's that folks. End of chapter 3. I didn't intend to take this long to post, but I thought I gave myself carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand for a few days there. Also my creativity has kinda been sapped as I've been working on my art for the last few days. Now that my excuses are out of the way I think I might apologize for not making this chapter what it was intended to be. I was going to introduce more characters, but I only got Reyes and Spina in before it got too long. One more thing, my lines for breaking up the story and my messages are being too shy to come out, so I'll be trying a few different ways until I find one I like. Suggestions on this would be nice if you have them. One more thing, if you have any questions about the story or the school or anything, send me a message or a review and I'll get back to you, but I won't spoil any plot points for you. One more thing, I'm done taking OC submissions for now. One more thing, the next chapter shouldn't take as long as this one. Until next time, everybody. Adieu.**


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